The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

by Helen Grant

When Katharina Linden vanishes during the Karneval in quiet Bad Munstereifel, ten-year-old Pia imagines it 'seemed like something from a fairy tale'. But the magic quickly turns to horror: Katharina fails to return, two more young girls disappear and a grim pattern emerges from the past to terrify the townspeople. This pacy and suspenseful crossover book will hold readers from nine to ninety spellbound until the final page.

Extract

'The pink hat, ' she said.
Suddenly all eyes were upon me. The next second, Frau Mahlberg had stepped forward and with a sharp jerk of her hand had pulled the pink hat from my head, almost taking a handful of hair with it.
'Ow,' I said, but nobody heard me. Frau Mahlberg was screaming at the top of her voice, screaming like a stuck pig. She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me until my teeth chattered. 'She's not Julia! She's not Julia!' she was shrieking, centimetres away from my face.